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 Branding: it’s a term that carries
great weight in the world of advertising. Successful
branding is best illustrated by the world’s most
prominent corporations, but it’s no less important to
the small business owner. Your Brand is your identity;
it’s every single puzzle piece, fitted into the big
picture of your company. From your name and logo to your
business philosophy and corporate mission; from your
advertising campaign message to your design elements; from
your products and services; all that is owned, produced,
stated, sold and marketed by your company falls under the
broad heading of your Brand.
What exactly is a “brand?” The term probably
originated at a time when when ours was a strictly
agricultural society. Ranchers take a branding iron to
their cattle, as a way to signify they OWN those cows.
Likewise, modern corporations choose a logo to brand their
name into the mind of the consumer. Every time you label
an ad or website with your company logo; every time you
take a political stance on behalf of your corporation,
you’re putting your brand into effect. And if a brand
indicates ownership, then it should be your ultimate
mission to dominate, or own, your niche. Brand your
company. Own the cow.
How do you determine your style of branding? Analyze your
audience. Zero in on the group you’re trying to reach.
Are they male, female, or both? What's the age group and
economical level? What are their spending habits, their
values? How do they TALK? What are they concerned about?
What do they think they NEED? Where will their focus be in
six months? And most importantly, how does your marketable
product fit into the scheme? If you never really get to
know your audience, you can read all the marketing how-to
strategies in the world, and it isn't going to mean didly-squat
for your business. It isn’t going to help you build your
brand.
What’s the next step? Always, always, always put
yourself in their shoes. Jump right into their heads, if
you can. Think of your audience during the business-plan
conception process. How do they communicate? What do they
find visually appealing? Are you marketing to senior
citizens? Use bigger fonts, a nostalgic tone, and a
morally forthright attitude. Is it the filthy, stinking
rich whom you’re trying to attract? Save the Crazy Eddie
shtick, because money is no object here. Every bit of
energy used to promote your brand should be focused toward
winning over your key customer.
There will be a time when you completely lose sight of who
you’re trying to attract. This, in turn, dilutes the
power of your brand. You’ll be in the middle of writing
an ad, when suddenly your head is racing with potential
buyer types. This happened to me once during my writing
stint with a digital media company who sold Santa Claus
greetings. In my sales letter, which went on for pages and
pages, there was no limit to what Santa could do! He could
praise tiny tots for using the potty. He could play
matchmaker to a couple of young lovers. He could patch up
an argument you had with Aunt Freida in Topeka. All of
this was great, but it was really convoluting Who We Were
as a company, and our Santa was becoming a Jack Frost of
all trades. It was no good! So we went back to square one.
And through simple words and a more narrow focus on our
original audience of children, we finally captured the
Magic of Christmas that we had originally intended to be
Our Brand.
Reflect your brand in everything you do; from your website
design, to your public relations, to how you go about
selling your product. Once you’ve done this, the next
step is to create Brand Awareness. This is achieved
through consistency. You can dream up the most brilliant
ad campaign on the planet, but if you’re not consistent
about putting it in place, you’ll never establish brand
recognizability.
If the tone of your company is “fun, light and
non-controversial”, steer clear of anti-war
demonstrations. If Arial is your font of choice, then
don’t go switching it up mid-campaign and putting out
affiliate program materials using Tahoma. If
tongue-in-cheek humor is how you attract attention,
don’t line your website borders with super-mushy
personal ads. Ask yourself: will this resonate with my key
customer? And use your logo and company tagline wherever
possible—in your email correspondence, on your website,
as your letterhead, on your business cards, in your
advertising and on your product packaging. Remind people
of who you are. Burn your brand into their minds.
To some extent, branding is following the herd...
emulating respected companies that capture what you’d
like to be known for. Still, a wise entrepreneur must
never forget that today's success story is tomorrow's
dot-com that went under. "What sold" for someone
else may not work for your company. Just because Joe
Baloney made millions selling with a bilingual circus
clown doesn't mean that will work for you... or that
anyone's even going to find it remotely interesting in six
months. The market changes like the tide, depending on
what direction society is going in. Where they were
before, which way they're headed, and wherever it's likely
they'll end up... socially, economically, ethically,
politically, culturally, intellectually, psychologically,
philosophically.
How will you know that you’ve branded successfully? When
people start listening to you. Not just hearing what you
say, but letting you call the shots. You’ll know it when
people start imitating you, too. You’ll start seeing
knock-offs of your products and your company image. This
may flatter you or it may annoy you, but when it happens,
it’s your cue to lead the pack in a new direction.
That's how to stay on top of the Branding Game.
The day that you find yourself functioning as a real, live
spokesman for a group of individuals, is the day you’ve
achieved Brand Recognition. The day that you make the
front page news headlines is the day you’ve become a
household name. But a word to the wise: once your brand
achieves true power, someone will try and take you down.
Remind them that you own this cow.
Copyright 2005 Dina Giolitto. All rights reserved.
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